Wednesday, June 29, 2016

4th of July Fun Facts!

It’s a day you probably
know well, and one that you anticipate with pleasure; but there are probably a
lot of fun facts about the nation’s birthday that you aren’t familiar with.

So, as you wait
for the barbecues, fireworks and unabashed noshing on hot dogs (hot dogs
are my fav), read through this list of 7 interesting facts about July 4. (1)

Happy 2nd of July?!

Author
Kenneth C. Davis has revealed that the 2nd of July may actually be the
more appropriate date to mark the nation's special day. "The fact is that
John Adams wrote home to Abigail on the 3rd that this day, July 2nd will go
down in history," Davis said during an appearance on "CBS This
Morning." "We'll celebrate it with parades and pomp and bells
ringing and fireworks, and it was because Congress actually ruled it in favor of
independence on July 2. But it was two days later, of course, that Congress
then accepted Jefferson's declaration, explaining the vote two days before that
really got fixed in the America's imagination as our birthday.

R.I.P. Founding Fathers

In
a bizarre, though perhaps apt, twist of fate, both Thomas Jefferson
and John Adams died on July 4, 1826. "The publication of the
Declaration of Independence may have accidentally made the Fourth of July the
official day of independence for America, but the deaths of two of its
founders cemented its creation of the date's designation," wrote the FW's
Danny Gallagher in a post commemorating Independence Day in 2012.

Holiday, Shmoliday

"Americans
began observing the Fourth of July as early as 1777, when the first-ever major
celebration in Philadelphia included a parade, a thirteen-shot cannon salute
and fireworks, but Congress didn’t make it official until 1870, when it
was part of a bill passed to recognize major state holidays at a federal
level -- like Independence Day, Christmas and New Year’s Day,"
according to TIME magazine.

July Fourth is the "biggest hot dog holiday
of the year," according to TIME magazine, with Americans reportedly
consuming about 155 million of them on Independence Day alone. But despite a
nationwide love for the salty snack, no one really knows where the hot dog came
from. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, it is "likely
that the North American hot dog comes from a widespread common European sausage
brought here by butchers of several nationalities." The meaty treat's
origin story remains murky, however.

American Bald... Turkey?

In
a letter to his daughter Sarah Bache in 1784, Benjamin Franklin wrote that
he was displeased that the bald eagle had been chosen as the symbol for the
nation. "He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living
honestly," he wrote. "You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree
near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of
the Fishing Hawk." A turkey, Franklin went on to argue, is a far
"more respectable" bird. "Turk'y… [is a] true original Native of
America," Franklin wrote. "He is besides, though a little vain &
silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the
British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat
on."

Tap, Tap, Tap

Due to concerns about
cracking the iconic instrument, the Liberty Bell has not been rung since 1846.
Instead, every year, to mark the Fourth of July, the 2,000-pound bell
is tapped 13 times to signal for bells across the country to start
ringing.